Being Overwhelmed is Way Scarier Than a Paranormal Activity Movie

Want a little lesson in the life of a scientist? On my plate right now:

Proposal reviews: OVERDUE

Book chapter: OVERDUE

Two revise and resubmits: one OVERDUE, one not (yet)

Manuscript review: SUBMITTED LATE

Proposal revision to mock panel: only a matter of time before OVERDUE

New grant proposals: WAY BEHIND SCHEDULE

Workouts: NOT HAPPENING with husband out of town and sitters unavailable

Emails to me these days: GO INTO A BLACK HOLE UNLESS YOU WRITE A SECOND TIME AND ARE ON FIRE

Kiddo’s Halloween costume: NOT QUITE DONE AND THE CLOCK IS TICKING

Blog post: well, at least I got something done.

A number of deadlines and personal difficulties (like single parenting due to husband travel, being in the derby mini off-season and thus unable to hit anyone, teaching and service ridiculousness) have made this an especially scary Halloween. That list frightens me more than any movie.

Here is a very random list of links I've enjoyed over the last week or so that helps things look up:

Male DNA in female brains revisited. A great piece by Ricki Lewis on chimerism, pregnancy, and the historical context of the recent article on fetal tissue in the brain and Alzheimer's. A fabulous, accessible description of neat science!

Nineteen species of fern named for Lady Gaga. Have a tissue handy, for the shot of the grad student discovering a fern and the fantastic PI who wants the naming of this fern to mean something for LGBT equality. Also, get your old green ballet costumes and tissue paper out so you can look like fern reproductive organs for Halloween!

What is science? A compilation of quotes from some of science's greats over at Brain Pickings.

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Kate Clancy

I am Dr. Kate Clancy, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. On top of being an academic, I am a mother, a wife, an athlete, a labor activist, a sister, and a daughter. My beautiful blog banner was made by Jacqueline Dillard. Context and variation together help us understand humans (and any other species) as complicated. But they also help to show us that biology is not immutable, that it does not define us from the moment of our birth. Rather, our environment pushes and pulls our genes into different reaction norms that help us predict behavior and physiology. But, as humans make our environments, we have the ability to change the very things that change us. We often have more control over our biology than we may think.

Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www.springernature.com/us). Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers.